


Second Chances

by The_Plaid_Slytherin



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Biggs Darklighter Lives, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, M/M, Post-Star Wars: A New Hope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-04 03:51:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12762558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Plaid_Slytherin/pseuds/The_Plaid_Slytherin
Summary: After the Death Star, Luke and Biggs get a second chance.





	Second Chances

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SidleyParkHermit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SidleyParkHermit/gifts).



"Biggs!" Luke could see the debris ricocheting off his own X-wing and the Death Star below, and he tried to block the implications from his mind. He couldn't let it get to him now, not when they were so close. His breath hitched. He should have told him…

No. 

Luke fought to clear his mind, like Ben had told him, but all he could think about was Biggs. He and Biggs in Beggar's Canyon, racing each other, pushing their old skyhoppers to their limits. Laughing with each other later, standing on the rim of the canyon, gulping down water, screaming lewd things into the growing darkness just to hear the echo. And after all of that, the one thing he had never said. Now he would never get the chance to say it.

He could hear Ben's voice, exhorting him to use the Force. He would have time to mourn Biggs later. Biggs had died for this opportunity, and he wasn't going to stop until he'd finished what Biggs had been fighting for.

He couldn't explain why he knew exactly when to fire. He couldn't explain what he sensed when the Death Star blew—but he suspected it was very like what Ben had felt at Alderaan.

There was something else he sensed, as well, but he could not yet put a finger on it. He didn't even realize he'd zoned out until he heard Han's voice.

"Great shot, kid. Got a surprise for you."

Hope hit him as rawly as grief had. _No_ , he told himself. _Don't get your hopes up._ But even as he said it, he knew what it was that Han had. Who it was.

The med team was carrying Biggs out of the _Falcon_ when Luke landed. 

"We got him just in time," Han said, clapping Luke on the shoulder. "Spent some time in the vacuum, but he's alive."

"I know." 

And he did. He didn't know how it had happened, but he could sense Biggs through all the noise of people celebrating the rebel victory. He was faint, but he was there. 

He let out a heavy sigh. There was still a chance. He could make things right. 

**

The Death Star may have been destroyed, but they still had to leave Yavin 4. This was all that allowed him to keep his mind off Biggs. 

"They'll take good care of him," Leia told him "Don't worry."

"I know." Luke crossed his arms over his chest as he watched as a medic supervised the loading of the bacta tank containing Biggs onto a transport freighter. "I still wish—"

"Wish what?"

"Nothing." He already regretted saying it out loud, but Leia was too damned perceptive to let anything slip past her. "I just want to talk to him. I won't feel better until I talk to him."

Leia squeezed his shoulder. "He'll be out of there before too long. Dr. Nefina is very experienced with vacuum sickness. She's seen enough of it, and if you think she can't treat humans, she served in the Clone Wars."

"No, I trust Dr. Nefina." It was easy to rely on the kind Mon Calamari physician and her efficient young assistant. "But I still worry."

"Then find something to do." Others might have heard Leia's brusqueness as rudeness, but Luke knew it was exactly what he needed to hear. "Get yourself on the roster to start searching sectors for new planets."

It was grunt work, but it would take his mind off Biggs. Maybe by the time he got back, Biggs would be awake.

**

Luke opened his eyes to Artoo's warning blips. 

"I know. I was just resting my eyes."

Artoo sounded incensed. 

"Listen, it's not like _you_ need to sleep." Luke shifted in the cramped cockpit of his X-wing. "Did your scanners pick up anything while I was asleep?"

 _Boooooop_. 

__"I'll take that as a no." Luke leaned back, taking in the vast blackness of space beyond his viewscreen. "Let's try another sector."

For all Luke knew, someone else had found a candidate planet and the entire Rebellion would be converging there. He hadn't sent a signal back for fear of his communications being intercepted. There was no point anyway, not when he hadn't found anything. 

"Yeah, Artoo, there's one we haven't checked yet. Let's try there before we head back." 

It wasn't that he feared Biggs would be dead—in fact, one weird part of him was certain Biggs was alive. He just didn't know what to say to him now that he'd vowed to tell him how he really felt.

What did it say about him that it had taken nearly losing him to tell Biggs how he felt? He'd been unable to that last day on Tatooine; the words had just died on his lips as Biggs had walked away. 

_Wooo-ooop._ A large blue world filled Luke's field of vision.

"I _am_ paying attention. I'd have seen that planet sooner or later."

Artoo didn't sound as though he believed him.

"Well, scan for lifeforms, then." 

Luke studied the display. It was awfully cold on the surface, but it was habitable and there wasn't any sign of intelligent life. It also wasn't in the Imperial databanks. That was the most important thing. 

"All right. Let's get back to the others. We'll get a survey team down there and check it out."

**

"No, absolutely not." 

"Are you saying he's not better?" Luke protested. He had run all the way from the hangar bay to the med deck, after giving a report of the planet he'd found and turning over the data from Artoo. He'd been ready to see Biggs until the medic—barely older than him—had stopped him.

"I didn't say that. I just can't let you back there. Dr. Nefina's orders." 

"Come on, Harter." Luke hadn't even heard Leia come up behind him. "Just five minutes. I'll keep count. You get yourself some kaff."

Kalonia gave them a reluctant look before slipping away from her post.

"Here," Leia said, triggering the mechanism to open the door. "You go in. I'll stand guard out here and intercept Nefina if she comes by. She'll be busy, though, checking over the survey team to make sure that planet didn't give them any new disease."

"I doubt it'll give them anything but frostbite." He stepped through the door and it slid shut behind him. The only problem with all of this is that he was going to owe Leia later. 

Biggs was the only patient there. He was lying in bed and Luke hesitated before going closer. 

"I can't look that bad."

That startled him out of his reverie. Why had he been so afraid of Biggs? This was just like old times. 

"You only look like you've been chewed up and spit out by a krayt dragon."

"Hey, at least it spit me out." Biggs grinned and Luke strode forward. He did look worse for wear—he was pale and drawn, and Luke could hardly believe it had been barely three days since the battle. "I'm telling you, buddy, I thought I was gone."

"Me too." The honest expression of relief was almost too much. Luke collapsed onto the bed next to Biggs'.

"Hey, watch yourself. You okay?"

"I'm fine." Luke felt his shoulders slump. He hadn't realized all the tension he was carrying since the battle. Thinking Biggs was dead, blowing up the Death Star, finding out Biggs was alive, the mission to find a new base… it was a lot to take on top of everything that had happened since Tatooine. 

"You don't look fine. You look worse than me, and I ejected into space." Biggs paused. "You never told me everything that happened. Said you'd tell me later."

"It's a lot, Biggs."

"Yeah, and if you can't tell me, who can you tell?"

Luke knew this was going to take more than five minutes, but in Biggs' familiar, comforting presence, he found it all spilling out—the droids, Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, Alderaan. 

"Wow," Biggs said when he'd finished. "You meant it when you said it was a lot."

"I warned you."

"It's okay." Biggs pushed himself up in bed. "I mean it, I actually do feel better. When do you think they're going to let me out of here?"

"That's up to Nefina." Luke glanced over his shoulder as if he might see the Mon Calamari lurking somewhere behind him. 

"Well, look," Biggs said. "I'm sorry about your aunt and uncle. They did a lot for me over the years. They were good people." He reached out and grabbed Luke's hand. "You know there's nobody left back there for me either, but you've always got me if you need someone." 

Luke wasn't sure whether he got up consciously or if Biggs was pulling him along, but he found himself shifting to Biggs' bed. 

"Coming so close to biting it made me think." Biggs hadn't let go of his hand, and Luke suddenly realized he wasn't going to get a chance to tell Biggs how he felt because Biggs was going to do it for him. "I mean, stop me if I'm wrong, but we make a pretty good team, I think. We've known each other a long time."

Luke smiled. "Yeah, we have."

"I always regretted one thing when I went to the Academy. I mean, I regretted giving the Empire any of my time. But I did regret not giving you the good-bye I wanted to give you." 

With some effort, Biggs pushed himself up sitting and reached for Luke's cheek. Their lips brushed tentatively at first, and Luke was suddenly conscious of Biggs' presence, of everything about him, of things that went deeper even than physical presence. This was definitely new and he didn't think he was ready to tell Biggs all about it—he didn't think he understood it himself. But there would be time for that.

"Well," Biggs said when they'd pulled apart. "Glad I got to do that. Thought about doing it when you turned up on Yavin, but it didn't seem like the right time."

"I'm glad you had the chance to do it now." He wasn't about to dwell on the alternative. 

"Heard you found us a nice new place." 

Luke narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "How did you hear about that?"

Biggs grinned. "I've got my ways. Heard it's cold, too."

"We'll see about that." It was an exciting prospect that he'd be able to think about in the time it took Biggs to get out of the hospital. A whole new world for them to explore together. 

Biggs waggled his eyebrows. "You're gonna have to keep me warm."

Luke grinned. "I will." 

There was a lot that was still uncertain—how long they'd be able to stay on Hoth, what the next step was now that they'd destroyed the Death Star, not to mention what shape this Force thing was going to take. Luke closed his eyes and let himself feel the moment. He couldn't distinguish any other people besides Biggs, but he could feel the ship teeming with life around them.

"Hey, don't drift off." Biggs squeezed his hand. "You're the best entertainment I've gotten all day."

Luke laughed. "Not too sure how I feel about that. I don't seem to have much competition."

"Yeah, well, I still think I'd prefer you on any other day."

"That's nice to know." Luke leaned in to kiss him again, though he was conscious of studying Biggs' demeanor for any hint that he needed rest. 

For now, though, it was nice just to be near him, one familiar constant in all the uncertainty that lay ahead. The way forward for the two of them was uncertain, too, but Luke was looking forward to seeing what lay down that road.


End file.
